Best Titanium Road Bike

[m_sasso]

Naked http://nakedbicycles.com/ is doing some pretty nice stuff with Ti also, check out the gallery. Maggie Coles Lyster’s bike is outstanding!

[Hilltopperny]

The raciest titanium bike I've owned was a Guru Praemio R. It felt like a rocket, but was still very smooth. I believe the titanium crew from Guru are now Q-lab.

They had some highly ovalized titanium bikes at NAHBS. Haven't really seen them anywhere in the wild, but it could be another option.

I've owned a lot of titanium bikes and I can say without a doubt that I would by a No22 again if I had the budget for it, but if my budget was low and I was looking for a new titanium bike I'd buy a Lynskey. They don't get as much love from some people, but they definitely make a nice bike and can be bought for under a grand new in the winter on eBay. It won't be exclusive, but it's still a hell of a deal compared to any other USA made titanium bike.


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[Heisenberg]

Best performance custom Ti? Baum. They do crazy **** with tubes.



But I'm a big fan of working with people I like, so ymmv. Mosaic, Moots, Spectrum, all good folks. Hard to go wrong with most of the small builders listed here.

[Mikej]

Originally Posted by Heisenberg

Best performance custom Ti? Baum. They do crazy **** with tubes.



But I'm a big fan of working with people I like, so ymmv. Mosaic, Moots, Spectrum, all good folks. Hard to go wrong with most of the small builders listed here.

Love the Baum? But it’s around $8000 usd for frame fork Hs stem and post.😓😭🤫

[joosttx]

Originally Posted by Heisenberg

Best performance custom Ti? Baum. They do crazy **** with tubes.



But I'm a big fan of working with people I like, so ymmv. Mosaic, Moots, Spectrum, all good folks. Hard to go wrong with most of the small builders listed here.

I loved this bike. I almost had my 44 painted just like this but was too cheap. If you haven’t seen a Baum closeup please refrain from comments. Nate is right about their tubes.

[Heisenberg]

Originally Posted by Mikej

Love the Baum? But it’s around $8000 usd for frame fork Hs stem and post.😓😭🤫

Actually, I think the Orbis (disc road bike) is nearing $10k...

But seriously. They take the dial to 11. If money is no object, they’re it.

[Lanternrouge]

Originally Posted by Heisenberg

Actually, I think the Orbis (disc road bike) is nearing $10k...

But seriously. They take the dial to 11. If money is no object, they’re it.

That sounds like Ferris Bueller's comment about the Ferrari. I think bikes like Baum's are like bling that's only recognizable as such by the people who really appreciate it versus just everyone out there.

[m4rk540]

Originally Posted by Heisenberg

Actually, I think the Orbis (disc road bike) is nearing $10k...

But seriously. They take the dial to 11. If money is no object, they’re it.

If you spend 10K on a Baum frame and believe it to be measurably better than a 3K Lynskey then you probably made your money in Texas on energy futures and not within 1000 miles of San Francisco or Palo Alto. Now if you buy the Baum for the look and white glove treatment, you're probably a patent attorney in the City. And more power to you.

OP, no titanium frame is light or aero. Don't spend over $1500 and save the rest for good tires and comfortably stiff road shoes.

[scoobydrew]

I'm tempted to have John Caletti build up my next frame. Bonus is that he is local.

[FlashUNC]

Originally Posted by m4rk540

If you spend 10K on a Baum frame and believe it to be measurably better than a 3K Lynskey then you probably made your money in Texas on energy futures and not within 1000 miles of San Francisco or Palo Alto. Now if you buy the Baum for the look and white glove treatment, you're probably a patent attorney in the City. And more power to you.

OP, no titanium frame is light or aero. Don't spend over $1500 and save the rest for good tires and comfortably stiff road shoes.

Oh yeah, this is the good stuff. If only there was a way to cut, cook and inject this into my veins.

[joosttx]

Originally Posted by m4rk540

If you spend 10K on a Baum frame and believe it to be measurably better than a 3K Lynskey then you probably made your money in Texas on energy futures and not within 1000 miles of San Francisco or Palo Alto. Now if you buy the Baum for the look and white glove treatment, you're probably a patent attorney in the City. And more power to you.

OP, no titanium frame is light or aero. Don't spend over $1500 and save the rest for good tires and comfortably stiff road shoes.

Well someone has to make the world go around. I know the guy from Texas whod did make his money in oil futures (not really accurate description) who bought that shelby cobra blue baum. I seriously do not think it is a sin to appreciate, celebrate and own beautiful crafted things.

[Dino Suegiù]

The notion of "best titanium road bike" is pretty silly and obviously completely subjective, so no amount of debate will ever answer the original question.

Since bicycle aesthetics are just as subjective, I find those Nakeds and that Baum ugly actually, overdone and unresolved at the same time. The Baum especially looks garish, and that stem and saddle are not helping either. Even the King cages, usually so unobtrusive, look completely out of place on that frame...maybe because they are the essence of pragmatic simplicity rather than flouro-bombast, etc. Odd contrast, not working.

Too many of these bicycles, so beautiful in their basic state, always seem then to try too hard to be "extra-special" somehow, and instead just end up over-complicated and pretentious, and ironically even more boring than what many claim is boring about titanium.

Moots, Seven, old Merlin and Litespeed, Mosaic, Cyfac, Kish, plain Spectrums, De Salvo, Passoni, Bixxis, Crisp, Wittson, Guru when they existed, etc.; the simpler schemes are always the most timeless and beautiful on a titanium frame. It is in the nature of the material.

[macaroon]

Originally Posted by Dino Suegiù

Since bicycle aesthetics are just as subjective, I find those Nakeds and that Baum ugly actually, overdone and unresolved at the same time. The Baum especially looks garish, and that stem and saddle are not helping either. Even the King cages, usually so unobtrusive, look completely out of place on that frame...maybe because they are the essence of pragmatic simplicity rather than flouro-bombast, etc. Odd contrast, not working.

Too many of these bicycles, so beautiful in their basic state, always seem then to try too hard to be "extra-special" somehow, and instead just end up over-complicated and pretentious, and ironically even more boring than what many claim is boring about titanium.

Yes, absolutely agree, it looks fkin awful. The only thing it's missing is an Enve stem to complete the look.

But, if you're dropping 10k on a bicycle frame, you're gonna want people to know about it.

I guess it's bad taste in every sense of the word.

[BobC]

I may be misconstruing the OP's intent, but what I think the OP is asking essentially who makes a good titanium race bike. Personally I like the question. Who does (or can) make a titanium bike that you can race, that you are not afraid of laying down, throwing on the top of the car even if it raining. You know, a tool to use not an object to baby.

It is a great question I think.

[soulspinner]

Just go to the that barn in Pennsylvania...…….